PSB 2010

PSB Workshop: In silico biology

Workshop Organizers:

Richard Goldstein (richard.goldstein @ nimr.mrc.ac.uk)

Phil Husbands (p.husbands @ sussex.ac.uk)

Chrisantha Fernando (ctf20 @ sussex.ac.uk)

Dov Stekel (d.j.stekel @ bham.ac.uk)

Summary:

For more than fifty years, the techniques of genetics and molecular biology, increasingly coupled with mathematical modeling and computer simulations, have been highly successful in developing our understanding of increasingly large and complex biological systems. Despite increasing experimental sophistication, there is much information that is either practically or inherently difficult or impossible to obtain. We cannot ‘play the tape twice’ to explore the relative importance of ‘Chance and Necessity’ in explaining observed biology. We cannot explore avenues that evolution might have taken under different circumstances. We often cannot deduce general principles from the single example represented by the current set of evolutionarily related organisms. We cannot experimentally determine whether universal features found in all living organisms represent absolute constraints, common responses to a common situation, or a randomly- chosen alternative maintained through a common genetic descent. We cannot, in general, ask questions about why things are as they are, and what would have caused them to have been different.

Rather than analyzing specific living systems, we can try to create artificial systems that have properties characteristic of natural living systems. In particular we can use in silico biology to explore the processes of Darwinian evolution by studying digital ‘organisms’ on evolutionary timescales not possible in the laboratory, including their origin, evolution, development, behavior, and interactions. The aim of these simulations is the discovery of general or fundamental principles and organization of life, rather than purely the elucidation of the workings of a specific example. We can explore, investigate, and manipulate the workings of such systems without being restricted to the particular examples nature has made available to us.

This workshop is an opportunity for the computational biology community to be exposed to the important fundamental perspectives arising from the work of in silico biologists.

Workshop Topics:

The workshop encompasses theories of the origin, evolution, development, and resulting characteristics of systems throughout molecular and systems biology. Many important topics are relevant for this workshop, including:

· Evolution of Diversity and Complexity

· The Evolution of Evolvability

· Co-evolution

· Learning and Evolution

· Biological Networks: Origins and Properties

· The Evolution of Communication and Signaling

· The Origin of Life

· Emergence

Poster submissions:

While the workshop will consist solely of invited talks, we encourage poster submissions in this area.